This invention relates to rock crushing plants and other road aggregate or building material processing systems. More specifically, this invention relates to mobile crushing plants which are capable of being transported over public highways.
Several techniques and numerous equipment arrangements for moving rock crushing plants from one location to another are known from the prior art. Particularly relevant to the present invention is the use of modular rock crushing systems where the components of the entire system can be broken down and transported via semi-trucks to another location. Typically, the modular rock crushing system would be designed to be broken down to travel on the public roadways of a state which has the most restrictive size and weight limitations.
While such prior art modular mobile rock crushing systems have enjoyed considerable success in the past, they do have some drawbacks. Such modular mobile rock crushing system designs often resulted in using more trucks to move a rock crushing plant than would be legally required if the plant were being moved within states or between states that have size and weight restrictions higher than the aforementioned most restrictive size and weight restrictions. In some jurisdictions, a series of trailers can be simultaneously pulled behind one semi-truck. However, some states either prohibit or regulate towing multiple trailers arranged so that they have a capability for substantial angular articulation between the trailers.
One prior art system is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,563,477 to Schroeder. This patent describes an oversized portable bulk material processing plant which comprises two sections which can be joined together into a unitary oversized vehicle or which may be separated and FORMED into individual vehicles for independent highway travel. The design in Schroeder requires the addition of a set of wheels to FORM a second trailer and when combined, the unified structure is oversized. This attachment of a set of wheels would involve considerable time, effort and skill to accomplish.
Consequently, a need remains in the industry for an improved modular mobile rock crushing system which has flexibility to easily accommodate the various regulations in several jurisdictions and thereby reduces wasted energy and wear and tear of semi-trucks when more of such trucks are used to move a system than would be legally required. The primary objective of this invention is to meet this need.